Remotely controllable electrically driven toy car set



p 24, 1968 TAKESHI NAKAMURA 3,402,505

REMOTELY CONTROLLABLE ELECTRICALLY DRIVEN TOY CAR SET Filed Sept. 15, 1965 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 v I NVENTOR.

P 1968 TAKESHI NAKAMURA 3,

REMOTELY CONTROLLABLE ELECTRICALLY DRIVEN TOY CAR SET Filed Sept. 13, 1965 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 p 1968 TAKESHI NAKAMURA 3,402,505

REMOTELY CONTROLLABLE ELECTRICALLY DRIVEN TOY CAR SET Filed Sept. 13, 1965 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 United States Patent Office 3,402,505 REMOTELY CONTROLLABLE ELECTRICALLY DRIVEN TOY CAR SET Takeshi Nakamura, 112 Honden-cho, Katsushika-ku, Tokyo, Japan Filed Sept. 13, 1965, Ser. No. 486,825 Claims. (Cl. 46-244) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A remotely controllable electrically driven toy car set comprising a car and a controlling device. The two rear wheels of the car are individually driven by separate electric motors. The electric power for the motors is supplied by cells contained within the remote controlling unit. The remote controlling unit also houses a pair of rheostats serially connected to each other for the purpose of permitting variation of the speed of the two motors, either equally or at different speeds, to thereby control steering of the toy.

This invention relates to an improvement in a remotely controllable electrically driven toy car set.

One object of this invention is to provide a remotely controllable electrically driven toy car set in which the car may be controllable more freely.

Another object of this invention is to provide a remotely controllable electrically driven toy car set which is durable enough, particularly provided with a durable cable for transmitting power to the car.

Briefly stated in accordance with one aspect of this invention, there is provided a remotely controllable electrically driven toy car set comprising a car, a controlling means, and a cable. The car comprises a chassis, two rear wheels, and a front wheel. The two rear Wheels are individually mounted on the chassis and individually driven by two electric motors provided on the chassis, respectively. The front wheel is mounted freely on an axle adapted to be held by a bearing frame which is attached by a swivel at the center of its upper part and may be turned about the axis of the swivel. The controlling means comprises a rheostat which is operable externally and adapted to vary electric power to be trans mitted to the two electric motors through the cable, respectively. By the above construction, the two rear wheels may be made rotatable at different speeds in accordance with the operation of the rheostat and the front wheel is made to follow a curved run brought about by rotations of the two rear wheels at different speeds.

The invention will be better understood and other objects and additional advantages of the invention will become apparent upon perusal of the following description taken in connection with the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a toy car embodying this invention;

FIG. 2 is a partly sectioned plan view of a controlling means for controlling the toy car;

FIG. 3 is a longitudinally vertically axially sectional view of the toy car shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of the controlling means shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a bottom view of a lid of the controlling means shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a connection diagram of electrical circuit comprising a cell, two electrical motors on a chassis and a rheostat in between;

FIG. 7 is a partly sectional side elevational view of a part of a cable;

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional enlarged view along line a-a of FIG. 7;

3,402,505 Patented Sept. 24, 1968 FIG. 9 is a plan view of the rear part of a toy car comprising a transmission means operated through an axis of driving wheels in another embodiment of this invention; and

FIG. 10 is a longitudinally vertically axially sectional view of the rear part shown in FIG. 9.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, some embodiments of this invention will now be described; however, this description will be understood to be illustrative of the invention and not as limiting it to the particular construction shown and described. There is a chassis 1 having two rear wheels 3 and 5 and a front wheel 8. The two rear wheels 3 and 5 are secured on two driving shafts 2 and 4 which are arranged in alignment with each other and driven by two electric motors 6 and 7, respectively. Either of the two driving systems comprises intermediate shafts and gearings for transmission. A circular base 16 is formed in the front central part of the chassis 1. A supporting'frame 13 is provided on the base 1. A vertical swivel 12 is rotatably supported by the supporting frame 13 and the circular base 16, and extended downwards and secured to the center of the upper part of a bearing frame 9. The front wheel 8 is mounted on an axle 11 which is journalled by a pair of horizontal slots 10 provided in the side walls of the bearing frame 9 in such a manner that the axle 11 may be rotated freely and displaced fore-an-d-aft within the horizontal slot 10. A protrusion 15 projects forwardly from the bearing frame 9 and is inserted into a segmental slot 14 provided in the periphery of the circular base 16 for limiting the swivelling of the bearing frame 9, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3.

A controlling means 17 comprises a casing containing a cell 18 as shown in FIG. 6. The two electric motors 6 and 7 may be energized by the cell 18. The two circuits for the two electric motors 6 and 7 include a rheostat 20 which is operable externally by means of a handle 19 so that it is possible to energize the two electric motors 6 and 7 either equally or differently. A change-over switch not shown may be provided in the circuits. The casing of the controlling means 17 is provided with a lid 21. Inside the lid 21, two contactors 23 adapted to cooperate with the rheostat 20 are mounted on a shaft 22 rotatably carried by and through the lid 21. The handle 19 is secured on the shaft 22 outside the lid 21. A stopper 24 is also secured to the shaft 22 so as to limit the turning of the shaft 22 between two angularly displaced end position, as shown in FIG. 5.

The chassis 1 and the controlling means 17 are connected mechanically and electrically with each other by a cable 25 comprising three lines of electric wires 26 covered by a vinyl resin material 28 together with some lines of reinforcing yarns 27 which are hardly stretchable twisted hemp yarns or the like, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, whereby the electric motors 6 and 7 are energized by the cell718 as operated by the handle 19.

By virtue of the above construction, it is possible to transmit power to the two electric motors 6 and 7 equally with each other so as to drive the two rear wheels 3 and 5 equally whereby the car is made to run straight. It is also possible to transmit power to the two electric motors 6 and 7 unequally so as to drive the two rear wheels 3 and 5 at different speeds whereby the car is made to run along a curve. If the difference in speed between the two rear wheels 3 and 5 is larger, the turn of the car becomes steeper, so that it is possible to control, to steer merely by turning the handle 19 remotely and to back the car by the change-over switch. When the car is advancing, the axle 11 is positioned at the rearmost ends of the horizontal slot 10 so that the front wheel 8 is positioned behind the vertical swivel 12. By virtue of this arrangement, a curve is made rationally and smoothly at will. The curvature is restricted within an extent defined by the horizontal length of the segmental slot 14 so that an excessively steep bend is avoided in a manner similar to the steering of an actual car. When the car is being backed by controlling the handle 19 and a change-over switch, the front wheel 8 is positioned at the frontmost position in front of the swivel 12 so that the backing is also done smoothly. This rational and smooth change in direction is a novel effect over the prior art. Even if the two electric motors 6 and 7 are made quite the same with each other, it is probable that the two motors rotate at different speeds from various factors. By virtue of the controlling means constructed as above, it is possible, however, to drive the two rear wheels 3 and at the same speed with each other using such different two electric motors, respectively.

Making reference to FIGS. 9 and 10 in a modification comprising a mechanism of the differential gearing, there is provided a holding frame 32 of a short channel shape having two flanges. The two driving shafts 2 and 4 penetrate the two flanges rotatably. Two pinions 29 and 30 are secured on the inner extremities of the driving shafts 2 and 4. A crown gear 31 is rotatably carried at the center of the holding frame 32 and in mesh with the two pinions 29 and 30, so that, if the two driving shafts 2 and 4 are rotated at the same speed in the same direction with each other, the holding frame 32 is rotated on the two driving shafts 2 and 4 as if it is a part of them. But even if the two driving shafts 2 and 4 are rotated at different speeds, the holding frame 32 would be revolved on the shafts 2 and 4 by the mechanism of the differential gearing. A pinion 33 is mounted on the driving shaft 4 freely and secured to one of the two flanges of the holding frame 32 so that the pinion 33 is rotated when the holding frame 32 is revolved. The pinion 33 is in mesh with a gear 35 mounted on an intermediate shaft 34 so as to rotate the latter for driving such additional mechanisms as a flasher in a toy motor car or a revolving turret in a toy tank.

While particular embodiments of this invention have been illustrated and described, modifications thereof will readily occur to those skilled in the art. It should be understood therefore that the invention is not limited to the particular arrangements disclosed but that the appended claims are intended to cover all modifications which do not depart from the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A remotely controllable toy car set, comprising, in combination, a toy car including a chassis, a pair of rear wheels rotatably mounted on said chassis, a pair of electric motors carried by said chassis, a pair of transmission means respectively connecting each of said motors to said rear wheels for transmitting a drive from the respective motor to the respective rear wheel, a single front wheel freely rotatable on an axle, a swivel frame mounted on a front part of said chassis turnably about an axis extending substantially normal to said axle of said front wheel, and mounting means on said swi-vel frame mounting said axle movable between an extreme forward position forwardly of the turning axis of said frame and an extreme rear positioin rearwardly of said turning axis, depending on the direction of the movement of said car; controlling means distant from said toy car for individually controlling the speeds of said pair of motors; and connecting means Operatively connecting said controlling means with said motors.

2. A toy car set as defined in claim 1, wherein said controlling means comprise an adjustable rheostat and said connecting means comprise a cable connecting said rheostat to said motors for varying electric power transmitted respectively to said motors.

3. A toy car set as defined in claim 1, wherein said swivel frame has a pair of side walls and wherein said mounting means comprise a pair of longitudinally extending horizontal slots respectively formed in said side walls through which opposite ends of said axle respectively extend.

4. A toy car set as defined in claim 1, wherein said two rear wheels are respectively secured to two driving shafts arranged coaxially with each other and having each an inner end, and including a pair of pinions respectively mounted on said inner ends of said driving shaft for rotation therewith, a channel-shaped holding frame having a pair of flanges respectively turnably carried by said driving shaft and a connection portion connecting said flanges, and a crown gear turnably carried by said connecting portion and being in mesh with said two pinions so that said holding frame is adapted to be rotated about the common axis of said driving shafts, and means for utilizing the rotation of said holding frame.

5. A toy car set as defined in claim 2, wherein said cable comprises a plurality of electric wires and a plurality of substantially unstretchable reinforcing yarns embedded in insulating material.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,233,364 2/1966 Lahr 46-243 3,271,899 9/1966 Vaughan 46-243 FOREIGN PATENTS 994,832 6/1965 Great Britain.

LOUIS G. MANCENE, Primary Examiner.

R. F. CUTTING, Assistant Examiner. 

